Paramedic Gives Cold, Elderly Man a Blanket, Gets Punished for It — Is It Fair?

A paramedic from Detroit is being punished by the powers that be because they say he had no right to give away a state-owned blanket to a man on the street just because he was cold.

Earlier this month, paramedic Jeff Gaglio says he gave an older man a blanket because the man was cold and dressed only in his underwear outside of a house fire. The next day, Gaglio says his higher-ups informed him that because he took it upon himself to give away state property, he would be receiving disciplinary action.

"We can't have an employee who feels that they have a right to give away state property without getting prior approval," said Jerald James, chief of the Emergency Medical Service in defense of the decision to reprimand Gaglio.

However, Gaglio says he is frustrated because not only was he just trying to do the right thing, but the blanket itself had been donated. "I'm being punished for giving a man a blanket," Gaglio says. "Something that would seem like a common, everyday courtesy. Something that any man or woman would do in the city of Detroit."

It is not yet known exactly what type of punishment Gaglio is expected to receive. (See video below.)